The Day We Broke Mum
by crowskisses
Summary: As told to Hermione to help distract her as she healed, the tale of the Weasley siblings really did hit their Mum's breaking point and humorous aftermath. It's a repost by request, so multiple chapters up at once.
1. Bill

Title: **The Day We Broke Mum**

Category: Books » Harry Potter

Author: crowskisses

Language: English, Rating: Rated: K

Genre: Humor/General

Published: 01-19-16, Updated: 04-09-16

Chapters: 5, Words: 12,221

 **Chapter 1: Bill**

Summary: To help Hermione heal at Shell Cottage, Bill tells her of the day the Weasley children really did hit their mother's breaking point and the consequences that followed.

A/N: No beta, just my own insomnia and this is a repost. It's in the Shifting Tides universe, which will shortly disappear, but is AU for DH, specifically Malfoy Manor onwards. This doesn't share much of that, besides visitors to Shell.

Rating: K

Disclaimer: Nothing owned, nothing gained except smiles from reviews.

 **The Day We Broke Mum**

It was Bill who'd sensed the restlessness first in her sleep, the mumbled words and trembling that belied a nightmare and so he'd quietly taken her from the house to his favorite view of sea hoping at least this way the others could have a full night's rest. The moon was glinting off the water and the gently crashing waves always seemed peaceful, even at 3:37 am bundled in blankets. She struggled briefly in his loose grip as she woke, attempting to swallow down the screams of terror that had broken the nights since she'd come to this small haven of a house by the sea. His arm was around her strong and warm under the blanket, but he didn't offer her the form of comfort she'd expected; no empty words that the war would be ok, that she would be ok after all that had happened. Instead his voice was soft, distractingly low with the crashing waves. "Did any of my siblings ever tell you about the day we broke Mum?"

She shook her head mutely, still trying to swallow down the screams trying to claw their way out of her dry throat and push the images away, as Bill casually caught a silently summoned bottle of firewhiskey. "Charlie calls it the 'Day of Reckoning.' Ginny refers to it as 'The reason why the Burrow is crooked.' Depends on which Weasley sibling you ask, I suppose."

Bill gave a small laugh and took a sip before passing it to Hermione, idly wiping the sweat from her face as if he'd done it a thousand times before. He was silently wondering what Percy had made of it, before shoving the thought away. There was enough heartache at the moment to fill the entire cove they were sitting at.

Bill urged her to take a sip, before starting on his tale in his amused timbre. "Charlie and I were on summer break from Hogwarts and Mum was trying to teach Ron to read," A soft ironic smile that was a ghostly echoed on Hermione's face at the idea of the effort that must have gone into teaching one Ronald Weasley to read, "So she asked Charlie and I to keep a watch on the twins." He grimaced now. "George said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to lay down. Charlie and I had been playing quidditch with them and since he felt warm we figured it was best to just let them rest in case it was dragon pox or something."

"Fred?" Her voice was still hoarse from all she'd been through at Malfoy Manor. Hoarse from how little she'd used it in the two days since they'd come here.

Bill shrugged, the weight of his shoulder shifting slightly against her, "They always napped together. If one got sick the other inevitably did a few hours later." A small grin twisted the scars on his face, "Gin hated naps when she was little, never wanting to miss out on fun even as a toddler. The only person who could get her to take them was Percy."

She took another sip and idly passed the bottle back to him, she was feeling slightly better whether it was the burning whiskey, the story or simply being treated normally. She spoke again in a slightly astonished curiosity, "Percy?"

Bill's grin widened, "Took us years to find out how. Turns out he was reading Charlie's textbooks or the Muggle Encyclopedia aloud to her and frustrated or bored she would go to sleep. Wouldn't have worked on you, I suspect."

He got a faint smile in return and took his own sip of the drink, remembering how small and demanding Ginny had been from the day she learned to talk and how she'd had them all wrapped around her tiny finger. "Anyways, Charlie and I decided to just fly near the house tossing the quaffle back and forth in case the twins weren't actually sick or actually needed Mum for fever potions. We were joking around, could hear Mum starting to lose her temper with Ickle Ronniekins and then everything happened with a bang all at once."

Another sip, another pass of the bottle. Bill knew he should be giving her potions, dreamless sleep perhaps, but felt a little distraction might be better at the moment. That was what had helped him heal the best. "So we're tossing the quaffle and the next thing we know there's an explosion and a giant hole in the wall of the twins' room and the house is shaking so hard it tilts. Shattered window pieces almost threw Charlie from his broom and the gaping hole is ringed by green flames. Panicked we flew at it and there they are completely fine in little bubbles of accidental magic that had protected them." He mused for a moment, "Probably a mixture of a _protego_ and bubble charm now that I think about it."

She murmured her agreement, something lighting in the eyes that had been so dead since she'd arrived at Shell Cottage, perhaps the thinking of a spell. Bill took another sip, alighting in his small victory. "They were shocked, but grinning like maniacs finishing each other's thoughts it was 'absolutely' 'brilliant'. So Mum comes running up wand out, sees the twins with half the room blown away, a destroyed caldron, Fred holding a wand and Charlie and I framed by the blown out wall on broomsticks. I looked at Charlie thinking she might actually kill us, especially as it had set Ginny into shrieking from her nap. I was wondering how she was going to scream at us over that."

Hermione curled slightly closer to his warmth, urging him on as the interest in the story pushed darker thoughts from her mind. Bill wrapped his arm completely around her, handed her the bottle again and watched the small sputter and her almost breathless response, "What happened?"

"Mum went red with anger then white, then put out the fire. In an eerily calm voice told us all to go downstairs and wait until she was done and ready to deal with us. My mother nags, bosses, screams and cries over her children, she does not calmly handle situations like a missing wall in her house. It was Mum going mental on a level never seen before or since."

Hermione nodded her agreement leaning against his chest, Bill's deep timbre went on. "It was like walking to the gallows knowing you'll be hanged and having to wait your turn. Freddie and Georgie are clinging together, and completely terrified into actual silence. Little gits." It was said with a sort of annoyed affection. "Percy's gotten Gin who's still wailing and Ron is battering everyone with wanting to know what happened. I put on a kettle because it seemed like forever before Mum showed up and just looked at us, sighed and asked very, very calmly what happened."

"What did happen?" Hermione interrupted and Bill let her squirm, taking another sip from the bottle and having her do the same before he went on, at least she'd go back to sleep after this or dance like a crazy person.

"Fred started on this story of how it was an accident, but Georgie was so scared he fessed right up, both of them talking at once. Our wee troublemaking twins had gotten ahold of my O.W.L. potions book and wand, Charlie's caldron and supplies and somehow a muggle firework." He had to pause to laugh and her chuckle was slightly horrified. "They claimed they were practicing potions for school to show up 'that Snape', I guess Charlie and I had bashed on him pretty hard on breaks. Snape had it in for Charlie because of quidditch. Now the twins claim this is the day WWW was born. Or at least their fireworks line."

Bill chuckled, yet another name for the day, before sobering again, "Mum looked at them a long time, emotions running rampant across her face in a very non-Brit way. I imagine she was remembering her twin brothers as children." A pause. "Only the first few of us kids have memories of them, of how they'd help Mum with us and play little pranks on her to get her to stop worrying. Memories of lightness that were so rare growing up during the first war."

He shook off the unexpected levity and took another sip of firewhiskey as a shudder ran through her, tightening his hold and pulling her securely onto his lap. "Anyway, Mum came to a decision and just said 'Right, right'. Pours herself a muggle sherry takes a few sips, turns off the kettle, all the while leaving us sweating. She made Charlie and I stand behind each twin, I got Fred. Then the yelling exploded about us not being responsible enough for watching Fred and George, it was as she'd magnified herself into a never-ending Howler. Fred swears the noise made the muggle news in the village. Then she did what she'd been threatening for years: what we'd always assumed was just an empty threat. Dad wasn't there to calm her down either, so," he gave a small dramatic shudder, "She magically bound us."

He felt Hermione's questioning brow against his chest and explained, "A proximity charm, like those reins Muggles have for their naughty kids, Fred and I couldn't be more than 2 meters apart. Nor George and Charlie." A chuckle. "Then Ron started to whine about how that sounded fun to always have someone to play with and she promptly decided that Percy, who usually tried for some peace and quiet, was going to bloody well teach Ron to read and bound them too. Then she handed Gin the learning broom she'd been trying to motivate Ron to read with, that Gin definitely wasn't old enough to play with yet, poured herself another glass of sherry and actually relaxed." A reverent pause of wonder. "She even had me order muggle pizza for pickup rather than cook. It was the first time the any of the younger kids had ever had it."

Hermione giggled, actually giggled in a rough sounding chuckle from the screams she'd let out at Malfoy Manor. "Poor Percy." Her chuckle was almost deranged, "Trying to teach Ron to read….Why wasn't Ginny learning too, they're close enough in age?"

"Oh, Mum started that way, but Gin was catching on quicker and it kept upsetting Ron, so he dug his heels in like a mule over it. Tsk, Hermione, you should be saying 'Poor Bill'." Bill answered, reveling in the sound of lightness of her laughter after such a dark time. "I'd had a date planned and Freddie was a nightmare at seven, but when it came time for bed I could hear him sniffling. He'd never slept without George in the same room and only God knows what they got up to in the middle of the night."

"Oh. I'd never thought of that." She mumbled, "Even at Hogwarts they were in the same dorm."

Bill nodded, still reminiscing and pulling her closer yet and arranging the blanket for warmth in the chilly winds from the sea. "So I start to pack up the bedding to go down to the living room only to have the door open with Charlie already holding sleepaways and Georgie with little silent tears running down his cheeks. Percy had seen Charlie and George and showed up with Ron shortly after to demand what we were doing to get everyone in even more trouble."

A small chuckle into his chest as Bill recalled the night, the shuffling of the two meters restriction: of how he and Charlie had gotten the twins beds, the twins curled on the floor with Percy and Ron at the bed ends once Percy had realized it was a sleepover and Ron wanted to stay so very badly. "Then there was a pop and we all jolted. It was little Gin's first big appearance of controlled magic, three years old and she'd apparated right into the room landing on both twins excitedly telling us 'I'm here too!'."

A real laugh came from Hermione, "I bet she used that as ammunition when Charlie failed his apparition test."

Bill smiled into her hair, thinking that she had no idea. "Mum freaked out upon not finding Ginny in her toddler bed, Percy missing, and when she found us all curled up in one room, did what she does best: got sentimental. The she took a photo."

"It's on the mantle at the Burrow. I figured it was from a holiday." Hermione murmured sleepily.

"That's the photo." Bill agreed, also getting sleepy from the firewhiskey. "But for three days I couldn't be more than two meters from Fred and little more than that from George and Charlie for that matter. They were curious little things, the twins, and I reckon we taught them a little more magic and more about Hogwarts than we should have." He shook his head, "How they got so few OWLs when they went in already knowing how to do nonverbal spells, I just don't get."

"Did Ron learn to read from Percy?" She'd smiled at his appreciation for education, but her question was a sleepy one.

This time his chuckle was a belly laugh that shook her, "Erm, yes and no. It was when Percy pulled his first and possibly only solo mischievous act. Fred and I were going to get Gin from the nursery and take her flying and there was Ron sprawled unconscious on the floor and Percy holding Mum's wand. When Ron woke up he could read, or at least put effort in. Percy never did tell us what happened, suppose we might never find out now."

His answer was met with the soft relaxation of muscles of someone falling into a peaceful sleep. So he cast a warming charm around them, settled her in a more comfortable position and looked back out on the sea to muse on his childhood, the wars and the girl in his arms.

* * *

A/N: Posting in serial at once, so we're onto Fred!


	2. Fred

A/N: Still in Shifting Tides, if you're a new reader and not interested in that saga just know Shell has visitors for help and is not kept in isolation. Fred's bit got extended.

 **Chapter 2: Fred's Version**

Bill glanced up at his brother from the forearm wound he was still trying to get to stop slowly bleeding, to where Fred was trying to control Hermione's hair for the Order meeting they'd be attending later. "I told Hermione last night about how you fools broke mum."

Fred grinned, leaning closer to whisper, "It wasn't just Georgie and I. Did Bill tell you how the rest of the days went until Dad got home and undid the proximity charms?" Her head shook, "How terrible Bill was to me when I was just an innocent little kid?"

Bill scoffed and glanced at his book on cursed objects for yet another diagnostic spell, but gave his brother a small wink. Fred went on, speaking to the curls he was currently trying to separate enough to properly plait. "He would wake me up terribly early, sometimes just grabbing me-"

"Picking you up from bed, you little prat."

Fred went on, ignoring the interruption. "-just so he could use the loo! It was terribly rude, but don't worry, I got him back." He grinned at the memory and the fact he now had three distinct pieces of hair separated, dropping closer to whisper at her, "I jumped on his broom and because of the charm he had to run after me, I didn't take it high enough to make him float, though. See, that would have been mean."

She smiled and Bill caught it out of the corner of his eye, and nodded to Fred. "We spent most of the time with Charlie and Georgie, naturally, but I did get to go on my first date."

"It wasn't your date, Fred." Bill clarified, "You did manage to ruin it to the point she never spoke to me again. I'm almost certain she hexed me from behind the next year at Hogwarts."

Fred cracked up, pausing in his hair twining, letting pieces drop to rest in one hand, the other on her tense shoulder in his true merriment. He gave it a squeeze. "Served you right: you had no game, were a terrible conversationalist and spent most of the time blushing. You're lucky I was there to help you out."

"I was fifteen! By blushing, Fred means the flush all Weasley's get when they're buggered. He kept interrupting or needing the loo or various other annoying things to be generally disruptive. Including telling my date that 'there was something caught in her nose hairs'." Bill responded, re-wrapping her arm after the last spell hadn't worked. He suspected something topical would be needed for the wound and simply reached for a blood replenishing potion. Hermione was listening, seeming at ease with the banter and Fred's resumed plaiting of hair. Bill passed the potion to her, thinking of how much he loved when other people played with his hair too, part of the reason he wore it so long.

She took it, without comment and reached her hand out for a biscuit. She chewed it as Fred began his counter-argument. "Well there certainly was something caught there, maybe it was just her ego. She was terrible at sharing."

Bill rolled his eyes, "Fred, she offered me a sip from her malt, she however did emphatically not offer you one. You took one anyway and drank the rest after she didn't want it back."

His voice dropped again, another wink being shot at Bill. "It was a general offer, Hermione. Or she should have called Bill a nickname that did not also apply to my equally as red, though less lustrous hair. Bill had the stupidest haircut at the time, it was quite hard to miss."

Bill's ears reddened slightly and Fred tugged her plait so she could see them. He couldn't see her face, but Bill's ears got even more red much to Fred's delight. "We had a gnome tossing contest and little Gin got to judge it with Mum. She clapped and cheered as if it was the World Cup, while Mum shot numbers out of her wand. We beat Charlie and George, naturally." He began plaiting her hair again, "Percy really did try and teach Ron to read, but with everyone else having adventures he had a rough go of it." He tucked another lock of hair into the braid, "I think Ginny had the most fun of everyone, actually, don't you Bill?"

"Certainly," Bill replied, amused, "She wasn't stuck like glue to anyone and got to do as she pleased. Mum spoiled her rotten those three days, let her play with a wand, without having to nick it, while you and I had to manage breakfast and lunch. Mum wasn't even pissed when Ginny turned the living room upside down in her excitement of touching the wand, just laughed and fixed it."

"I'd forgotten she did that," Fred replied, feeling the small silent chuckle through Hermione's scalp. "How do you think Dad took it once he got back from the States to find Mum actually playing quidditch with all of us? All of us flying close, pretty sure that's how George and I became the best beaters Howgarts had ever seen. Finding out what Mum had done and Mum being, well, not Mum like: no yelling, cooking or knitting, up on a broom and laughing instead. Do you think he thought she'd gone mental?"

Bill's grin was wry as he remembered back to when his Dad had undone the proximity charms, "I think we're rather lucky we didn't end up with another sibling. Charlie went for a midnight snack and came back looking tomato faced."

Fred guffawed and found Bill doing the same, tied off the plait he'd finished. He stopped abruptly at Bill's face and the slumped shoulders he was facing, it was so easy to forget that Hermione had been an only child. She'd never had the constant companionship of siblings, never had to yell at whoever to hurry up while waiting for the loo, had probably even grown up with privacy. A concept that had astounded Fred his first year at Hogwarts, that people weren't always together. Bill's face shifted again, his thoughts clearly mirroring Fred's, "I hope you're glad you fell in with us Weasleys, we're quite an overwhelming bunch."

'Us, overwhelming?" Fred said dramatically, as he moved backwards, leaving the room. "Never! Not even once."

"Just obnoxiously loud." It was a grumble from the goblin's current room and while Fred was extremely interested in a goblin on the run and his potential to aid WWW, he would wait until his legs were less broken.

Happily for him, no response was necessary as Luna's dreamy voice called up that she thought lunch might be ready. Harry's louder, alarmed one following, "Luna that's raw."

"Really really raw, mate. Harry do you know how to work a magical stove?" Dean Thomas sounded disgusted and a bit desperate.

Fred snickered as he went to rescue the boys who did not know how to magically cook. Before moving out of the way finding Bill looked alarmed and was carrying a displeased looking Hermione. He followed them down and sensing she was still feeling proud about being carried, tried to alleviate it. "Sorry if the salve I made for your leg is too strong, Hermione. It's tricky to tell how strong the numbing needlecorns are unless you pick them yourself."

Bill's glance at him was grateful as he settled her on the couch closest to the kitchen, blankets popping out of his wand and gently wrapping her as if pulled by invisible strings. Fred moved to sit near her, not too close, as she murmured a question. "How do you know when they're ready to be picked? I missed the class where Professor Sprout introduced them and the notes I borrowed didn't include it."

"By touch, a pinch of two should numb your thumb for direct application." Fred answered easily enough to see Dean coming in to join them, nodding and grinning at Hermione, gesturing at the kitchen mouthing something. It wasn't forced, it wasn't pitying, it was the same interactions he'd seen between the two muggleborn Gryffindors of Ron's year. Once it had given him a twinge of jealousy, something he'd ignored when he found out Dean was dating Ginny and not Hermione.

She smiled back at Dean and mouthed words that were clearly an inside joke. Fred's voice sounded overloud to his own ears, "When Mum lost her head she and Ginny played a prank on Charlie with them in retaliation. Or that was their plan anyway, Charlie and George managed to escape, so Bill and I wound up with numb tongues instead."

Bill's voice came through with the sounds of sizzling as Luna went by with a covered plate, presumably for the goblin. "Never even apologized to us, just laughed at us for drinking their poisonous concoction. Got off easy in comparison to Charlie and George. Fred, no lunch for you, will you bring us more food? We're low already and they all need to gain weight."

Fred stood, seeing Dean still gesturing at Hermione and mouthing things animatedly and shrugged, she was smiling and that had been his aim. "Alright. I'll be off and raid the greenhouses."

* * *

A/N: Up next George explains why they were targets.


	3. George

**George and the Gnomes**

George knocked on the door and waited for Bill's affirmative before entering, carrying his basket with him along with the potions he was replenishing. He grinned, "Hermione, how would you like a pedicure?"

She was leaning against Bill and gave him a small smile, "Gryffindor special?"

George grinned back, shoving the potions at Bill who just looked confused and elaborated, "Always! Bill, it was long after you passed on your Head Boy prat badge. In our days it became quidditch dogma for every girl in Gryffindor to have her nails painted a certain way, as our lovely lady chasers thought it helped us win. Wood caught wind of it and promptly became a believer. So, Fred and I were drafted into nail painting frenzies."

Bill gave a small chuckle, "It wasn't the first time you'd painted nails."

"Nope and I doubt it will be the last. Ang' loves when I do hers. Besides, we found out girls would pay to have it done and we were trying to raise capital for WWW so we'd moonlight as well." Then he blushed lightly and set himself about pulling everything he needed out of his little basket, nobody needed that insight into his relationship. Rather abruptly he pulled both of her feet into the bubbling warm water he'd just shot from his wand into the little tray for it.

George started to ramble to cover his blush and his mention of his darling Angelina, "Now Hermione, my twin has mentioned that he and the Eldest here have been telling you about the time Mum went mental. Now that's incorrect," he reached in and began massaging a foot, "See, it's best remembered as either the day our fireworks line was started or the time 'Ginny Goes Gnome'. The fiery Ginny Weasley you know was birthed from Mum letting her run rampant over all of us at her every whim for three days. I swear by the end of it Gin no longer had any concept that pesky things called rules could ever apply to her."

Bill chuckled again, softly shifting Hermione into an easier position. "She wasn't that bad, George, and I don't think you can say a word about rule breaking."

"Says you, hiding away with Fred in safety!" George responded, before leaning back and settling into his tale as his hands worked. "See, Charlie and I went down for a snack and Mum and Ginny were in the living room. Mum's painting her nails and Ginny is dancing about like a maniac with her little friends, who Mum has callously let in the house."

Hermione glanced up at Bill as George pulled a foot out, Bill answered her for George, giving her a small smile. "Ginny was obsessed with the garden gnomes as a chit and in turn they were completely obsessed with her. She either knew their names or named them, we're not sure which."

"She's like Charlie, has a natural groove with magical creatures. Anyway, Mum asks Charlie to paint her other hand so she can look nice for Dad and I get stuck with Gin who's being allowed to get her nails painted too. Except, she's wiggling about like a wild thing because she's so excited. Charlie upon seeing wrappers strewn everywhere asks Mum if Ginny's had candy. You see, Granger, candy was a very rare thing for Weasley children to have."

Hermione made a clucking sound, then a sound of approval as he released a knot from her foot. "I only had sugar free when I was little."

"Terrible that is," George said, holding up the polish and receiving a nod in return. "Our parents had discovered candy made us a little excited, Ginny by far the most to where we all got banned from sweets."

"I've been to Honeydukes with her." Hermione said and George glanced up and grinned, seeing that Bill was softly rubbing one of her shoulders and passing her a potion and biscuit. She was very much being pampered at the moment.

"So you understand the predicament I was in with little Gin unable to pick what color she wanted, because she wanted them all and wriggling about like she was the snitch herself. Mum's real casual about the candy thing and says she just gave Ginny the bowl and Gin screamed at me that she'd gotten eight pieces of candy and that it was more than anyone had ever had at once. So excited she actually screamed it into my face. Charlie told her to shut up and calm down several times and that's when my first manicure started to take a dark turn. Mum told him to be nice to her then went back to her magazine and Charlie flipped her the bird when she wasn't looking."

He swiped yet another toenail, "Charlie had finished Mum's nails, but was stuck because of the proximity charm, and Ginny had gotten all dark and still, and was glowering at Charlie as if she could make him disappear on the spot. Mum is just flipping through her magazine like nothing is out of the ordinary except to yell up, 'Percy, can Ronnie read yet?'"

Bill shifted her again, stifling a smile as George started on the other foot, his voice not quite a whisper. "Spoiler: he couldn't yet, was still being a mule."

George nodded, looking up to see Hermione was very much listening to his harrowing tale. "So I finish Ginny's nails and Mum casts a drying charm for both of them and then it became a true nightmare. Gin looked at us, then at the little gnomes sitting near us, also glowering and flung her arm in Charlie's direction and yells 'Attack!'"

Bill was laughing now, his laughter spreading to Hermione to where George had to stop because her feet were trembling, his next words were in indignation, "It's not funny! Charlie and I can file assault charges and he's still got scars!"

Bill calmed himself slightly, adding to the tale, "We heard Charlie's yelps and ran down, and you were face down on the floor with gnomes on your back and Charlie had them biting his ankles and climbing each other to get at him. Fred claims they were actually tossing one another at him in their fury."

George let his voice pout, seeing that she was giving a full blown smile for once, "It's not funny at all and I love to laugh at myself. Mum called them off and told Ginny to tell them she'd give them kisses later and to apologize to Charlie. Ginny adamantly refused to apologize and Mum just shrugged and said, 'Well then, at least heal him. Here, I'll show you how.' Then demonstrated and casually passed her wand to a vindictive little maniac who's high on sugar and victory. So Ginny tries and Charlie's legs just start swelling like mad and he's bleeding even worse than before and Mum's all cooing at her, 'Good try, sweetheart. Bill, go grab the dittany. Do you want to try it again on Georgie's bites?' I really didn't want her to seeing what had just happened to Charlie."

Hermione's peal of raspy laughter broke his speech, her foot twitching in his hand as she imagined the scene. She pulled her foot briefly away, giggling into Bill's side like a nutter. She settled after some time, her eyes suspiciously fluttering with mirthful tears before giving him her foot and indicating he could continue his tale. He began his second coat of polish, "I can't say she did horribly, I did stop bleeding, but I also ended up hanging upside down in the air. Mum's still cooing like mad over how great Ginny is doing magically and apparently doesn't care a whit that I'm stuck upside down and Bill and Fred are desperately trying to stop Charlie from bleeding to death."

"He wasn't dying. Let's not be dramatic, Georgie." Bill intoned.

"Well it was traumatic, Billy, and I got head rush from being upside down too long." George shot back. "Eventually, Mum stops telling Ginny how wonderful she is and that she'll never let anything stand in her way and decides to help the rest of us. Takes her wand back and I'm back face down on the floor and Charlie is patched up and then of all things she opts to scold Charlie over his behavior, 'You shouldn't be so mean to your sister and I fully expect all of you to be more protective of her than her gnomes! Especially when she's older and she's at school and I'm not there! It serves you right Charles, you shouldn't have excluded her when she wanted to go riding with you and Georgie yesterday.' Those are just snippets, Granger, snippets of misplaced blame because Mum loves Ginny more than the rest of us."

"Don't say that, she loves all of you." Hermione said as he switched feet again, Bill rumbled something that might have been either agreement with her or George.

"Well, Ginny got away with everything. Don't roll your eyes, Bill, you were at school most of the time when she was little. I swear, Ginny could get away with sheer murder and Mum and Dad would just give her some vague scolding and blame it on us for not protecting her or keeping her in line."

"That's not true." Bill said passing Hermione another potion to swallow with a biscuit.

"Says the brother who was off in Egypt when his little sister got possessed by a diary. Guess who took the fall for that one? The four brothers who should have know why she was acting strangely and half frightened at times. Percy had it the worst as he had been tasked with keeping charge of her and been writing to Mum about how she was doing great, but had been too distraught over his secret girlfriend instead. It's not like we didn't ask her enough times what was going on with her."

Hermione's voice sounded distinctly sleepy as George rolled his hand along the ball of her foot, "I think I was petrified for most of that."

"I wish I'd been petrified when Mum let Ginny loose the first time, but we did take her riding after that." George said softly before casting a drying charm.

Bill's voice was soothing as he settled her in the bed, gently letting her rest against him in the large nest of pillows he had around her, "So did Fred and I, we think it's why Ginny loves quidditch so much."

"I don't like brooms. Goodnight kiss?" Her voice was more of a sleepy slur this time.

"Don't mind if I do, Granger. We'll count it as your tip." George said before leaning over only to have Bill shove him away with an idle glare and shift himself to kiss her forehead as she'd already nodded off.

George cleaned up quietly, taking his time about it. "She's still not sleeping without the potion?"

Bill shook his head, "She was up most of the night, which is why she's getting it now. I think the goblin is the only one who can get a full night's rest without it at the moment."

George nodded, "Ron and Harry aren't sleeping well, nightmares we think, but they won't talk about it. Besides, Ron snores so badly we have to put a silencing charm around their bunk bed." He noticed her hands were staring to clench in Bill's shirt, "Um, Bill."

Then her eyes flew open, breathing ragged. "It's a fake. It's a fake."

Bill pulled her close, murmuring in her ear that she was safe and gave a vague hand motion that George took as keep talking you moron. "So like I was saying, Granger, Mum is letting Ginny run the show, but also doing nothing herself. She's sitting there sipping sherry and reading while Charlie and I are tasked with cooking dinner for everyone, which is rather a lot of people, no idea how Mum does it. Well, I'm at the peas and Charlie is stuck peeling what seems like a mountain of potatoes."

She seemed to be calming with Bill rubbing her back, but her eyes were focused on George and flitting to her surroundings. When Bill passed her firewhiskey she took a sip. "Well, Charile keeps thinking he's nicking his finger on the knife and cursing about it at every new potato for what seems like forever. Then he goes to grab one of the last ones and it's a gnome who straight up bites him in the hand so hard he flings the knife into the ceiling. The gnome found this hilarious and jumped down and goes running off with his manic laughter trilling after him. I hear giggling and Gin Gin is peering around the corner to the kitchen watching Charlie curse up a storm, gives him the haughtiest little look that indicated both that she'd won and was not yet done with him. Then she ran off after her little gnome saying 'Mum, Charlie's using bad words and I don't want potatoes, he got them all bloody'. Charlie is trying to clean up his cut and Mum calls from the dining room, 'Charlie dear, we're not vampires, throw the potatoes out.' Charlie just gets this completely frustrated look on his face looking at all the potatoes sitting in the sink and yells back what she wants instead and we can hear Mum asking Ginny what she wants for dinner. Charlie just got so furious at all of the things Ginny wanted, Bill had to come calm him down."

Hermione had lost some of the hollowness in her eyes and tore her attention from George to look up at Bill, who offered her some more firewhiskey, "I did indeed, then Fred and I were drafted into the makings of a very strange dinner."

He passed the bottle to George who took his own rather long sip, "I wouldn't call it dinner, one of the long hair, I think the proper term would be tea party. Everything in miniature, little cakes and sandwiches and the like. Ginny even put on her stupid little hat and gloves. She insisted on sitting between Charlie and I to make him pass her things with his bandaged hand acting like the happiest most innocent little princess."

Bill took his own sip when the bottle came to him before shoving it back at Hermione, "Looking back it's rather cute, she and Mum were having such a good time. Mum got dressed up too, remember? Though Charlie swears if he never settles down and has kids it's because of Ginny and her gnomes running roughshod over him for those few days. The two of you had us checking the bathroom for them."

"Well Bill, you've never had to wake up because there's a garden gnome breathing in your face, just staring you down. We were terrorized by them."

Bill laughed and Hermione shifted against him her eyes starting to drop back down, he pulled the blanket closer, his voice soft. "While I wasn't woken up like that, they couldn't tell you and Fred apart so we got occasional collateral damage."

Her breathing had evened out again, eyes fully shut and Bill motioned at George to go, mouthing "Thank you."

* * *

A/N: Reviews always appreciated :) Charlie and Ron are after the break


	4. Charlie

**Charlie with a little help from Ginny**

Charlie was awoken by something pawing at his face and completely startled found Hermione's cat glaring at him. Still sleepy he asked, "What's going on?"

The cat jumped back on the bed and started to lick her face, trying to offer comfort to the trembling girl with her huge eyes. "Hermione, are you ok?"

She shook her head, curling closer to where Bill was still sleeping, completely unaware of a cat sitting on him. Good, he'd been given enough dreamless sleep. "Story."

Ok, this Charlie could do, Ginny used to have nightmares too. He sat up on his cot bed, going to sit on the bed next to her, tentatively stroking her hair the same way he had Ginny's when she'd been small and come into their room looking for anyone awake.

He just started rambling at her. "Hermione, I'm told you've been very much misled by my brothers about a gnome tossing contest when Mum had her Day of Reckoning." Charlie went on, trying to keep the competitive streak out of his voice and make it soothing instead, "Well, George and I absolutely did not lose the contest. It was interrupted and never finished. Fred told you a flat out, likely highly embellished lie."

Her voice was so soft he could barely hear her. "I imagined you all running around the garden trying to catch them and throw them."

"We probably would have, but Ginny had this weird thing with the gnomes." Charlie said, watching her peer up at him. "Gin had gotten the gnomes to line up.."

Ginny's sleepy voice was defensive from her own cot, "Don't talk about my gnomes, Charlie."

For once he was indeed not trying to insult the garden gnomes Ginny loved and was loved in return by. "I'm not thrashing on your gnomes, Gin. Just telling Hermione about how I didn't lose the gnome tossing contest. Go back to sleep or come help comfort your friend."

Ginny sleepily climbed out of her cot and came to the bed, simply grabbing the firewhiskey, 'What? Bill said she's allowed to have it. It's on his rules poster."

"Ginny-" He decided it was best to just keep talking, watching Hermione shake and Ginny pull her up and wrap her in a hug. Now was not the time to try and teach his sister anything.

"Oh, I'll tell it if you're going to be a baby, Charlie. I promised the gnomes a garden tea party if they let you all toss them without the chasing part, which they find very fun. Nobody but Mum ever wanted to have tea parties with me." Ginny sounded wistful about it and Charlie fought down the urge to glare, they had played tea party so much with Ginny he started drinking coffee as soon as he got to Hogwarts.

"Hermione, Ginny is like Fred, a little liar. She constantly had tea parties." Ginny had Hermione take a sip of the firewhiskey and she laid back against Bill after.

"Mum had to make you all, though, you didn't want to and I kept hoping you'd all start to like it as much as I did. Only Ron and George ever offered to play it." She sighed. "Go on with your story, freckle face." Ginny did pass him the bottle after taking her own sip, shoving his hand away and taking over hair stroking duty from where she'd crawled onto the other side of Hermione and Bill.

"Fine. Anyway, we didn't lose because Ron and Ginny were having an incredibly stupid argument about flying with Ginny taunting him from the broomstick."

"I wasn't taunting him." Ginny's voice came back, still sleepy sounding, but soothing.

Charlie tried for cheery, "You were whizzing around on his reading broom telling him you were such a better flyer than him and you could beat him in any race."

Charlie took a sip, then passed the bottle back. Bill seemed to be starting to stir, maybe he and Ginny and should get off the bed in case he was all riled up, he didn't him to accidentally hit Ginny if the moon flare was bad enough. "My youngest brother got so upset, Hermione, that he started yelling at Ginny about how he didn't need a broom to fly. He was so adamant about it he begged George and I to throw him."

Ginny gave a giggle and Hermione seemed to be intensely listening as she sat up and took a very long sip of the firewhiskey, before tucking back down. Bill definitely was stirring, one of his arms coming to wrap securely around her as she resettled. Charlie made a small motion for Ginny to move away, but Ginny shook her head and stayed put.

Hermione's cat also seemed to be listening, which was a little disconcerting, Charlie didn't know if he liked that. "So our youngest brother really wanted to prove he can fly, completely convinced that he can do it broomless. He wanted so badly to have Mum shoot numbers out of her wand for him too, so I spun him around and tossed him like a gnome."

Ginny laughed harder, "So he goes whizzing off and is actually flying with his little accidental magic, you know Weasley is Our King is unstoppable if he's actually got his confidence."

Charlie cut her off, it was his story time and Ginny didn't really remember most of it anyway. "Yet, we'd forgotten about Percy, who was just being dragged before going airborne himself. Teeny Ginny-"

"I'm right here, Charlie." She cut off, starting to rub a kink out of one of Hermione's shoulders.

Charlie ignored her outburst, he and Ginny would still be having a long expletive filled talk later about the ruckus she'd caused this week. "Teeny Ginny attempts to go racing after him on the broom, but she didn't really know how to race yet. George and I were running after Ron and trying to grab Percy to stop Ron from hitting the tree with Mum beside us throwing cushioning charms like crazy and in all the confusion Ginny fell off the broom. I guess Bill or Fred caught her."

"The gnomes caught me, they were running under me cheering." Ginny said as if it was the most natural and happy thing in whatever little world she lived in. "Also, if you ever can't tell the twins apart just say 'Roaming Gnomes' to them. Fred will roll his eyes and George will dissolve into giggles like a third year Hufflepuff girl at the sight of a boy in quidditch gear."

"He finds it so hysterical he laughs so hard he cries sometimes, can't even say the phrase." Charlie offered.

"Roaming gnomes?" Hermione asked softly.

"It was a password for the Gryffindor common room, so he couldn't even get himself through the portrait hole. Maybe he saw Ginny get caught by running gnomes and that's got something to do with it." Charlie mused, remembering how he'd found George asleep in the hallway after he'd been put in separate detention from Fred, back before the teachers pretty much gave up on trying to stop their smaller pranks.

He glanced at Bill and grinned, feeling slightly evil at everything Bill was putting him through, "Want to know a secret about Bill? I can embarrass him since he's asleep."

Hermione nodded eagerly, sitting up to listen better, bumping into Ginny. "When Bill was an only child he was an extremely spoiled toddler. Mum and Dad told him so many times that he was getting a baby, he thought I showed up just for him. He would get rather jealous of other people giving me attention because I was his baby and as I got older he was afraid I'd love someone else more. So much so, he learned to read freakishly early, purely so he could read our bedtime story to me."

Hermione glanced down at gave a soft smile at Bill, "That's so sweet."

"One of my first memories is of being really anxious and Bill telling me not worry. He held my hand and we went to find Mum so he could tell her he didn't want another baby, he wasn't trading me for anything. Mum sitting us down and telling him 'Oh sweetie, Charlie isn't going anywhere. We're keeping him.' I felt so relieved by the fact that I wasn't to be traded for a new one. 'This is just a baby for Charlie.' Then I told her I didn't want a baby, because Bill said they're boring at first and Mum told us the baby was coming either way."

Bill's eyes had opened sometime while he was talking, "We decided to dislike the new baby because Mum wasn't listening to our demands and giving it back. They changed tactics for telling us we were getting a new sibling after that. They didn't even tell us the twins were coming, we went to visit Muriel and when we got back there they were. That didn't go over well with Perce at all. He too, did not want babies. Nightmare, love?"

She nodded and let him pull her back down into his arms, settling her head on his chest and Bill made a hand motion for Charlie to keep talking as he rubbed her back soothingly, not realizing most of the soothing had already been accomplished. "So you've heard about gnome tossing and the brutal gnome attack."

"It wasn't brutal, Charlie." Ginny said defensively.

"Ginny, they still effing boo me for all of your perceived childhood injustices, even though they live in my yard and love the dragons." Charlie reprimanded, getting off the bed to go sit on his cot. There wasn't really a reason for all four of them, plus the cat to be piled on the bed and he preferred his space.

"Anyways, you've yet to hear about games with the ghoul and George. Bill and Fred went on a date, but George and I needed to hide from the devious gnomes. So he took me to the spot where he and Fred hid from Mum when she was mad at them. We went up into the attic with a deck of exploding snap and gobstones and I'd never been up there and lo, and behold there's a freaking ghoul. George is real smooth about it and tells me he moved in last week and starts showing the different games to the ghoul. The ghoul picked gobstones."

Hermione was still staring at him, "We had a tournament with George repeatedly explaining the rules to the ghoul, who seemed happy and George telling me the ghoul couldn't really talk so we couldn't play chess with him. When Mum got back to her senses and realized we had a ghoul she wanted to get rid of it. Which Fred and George, and I by proxy, were adamantly against because if Ginny was allowed to have gnomes the twins were allowed to have a game playing ghoul. Dad sided with us and Mum loved her mini-me so much more than the rest of us so she had to let the ghoul stay."

"I'm not Mum's mini-me and she doesn't love me more." Ginny said taking one last sip before returning to her own cot bed, shooting Charlie a glare.

"Ginny, she tried and tried for you and you've never seen Mum duel anyone. It was her second Day of Reckoning and it was terrifying, just like you when you're furious at someone. I still have no idea if she killed the men who tried to take her or us during the First War for leverage against our uncles."

"Don't bring that up, Charlie." Bill scolded, then seeing everyone looking anxious, sighed. "Mum didn't, she turned one over to Uncle Gid and one fled due to her sheer rage at some point. She thinks the third just couldn't hex a pregnant woman so he destroyed the Burrow's kitchen before leaving."

"Mrs. Weasley dueled people?" Hermione asked in slight awe, seeing Ginny looked astounded as well, their eyes meeting.

Bill sighed softly, "Yes, to make sure we all got out. Charlie and I were responsible for flooing the younger ones to safety, before going ourselves, so we heard and saw some of it. Made me appreciate how sweet Mum was when she yelled at us. You do not get between her and her children's safety or you get hexed through a window with most of the cutlery flying after you in attack."

"She was throwing hexes I've still never seen repeated. Right before I flooed she screamed _Molly Prewett_ with a crazy wand wave and one the men's feet caught fire." Charlie added, reaching for the bottle of firewhiskey. His mother got mad at them, but never sounded like an angry nesting dragon in a complete rage or tried to kill them. This was getting heavy, he tried for lightness, "Anyways, when I was playing gobstones against the ghoul George asked me how long it would take for Mum to realize screaming didn't work on him and Fred the way it did the rest of us. I asked him what he meant and little Georgie shrugged, 'We like noise, we don't like it when it's quiet. Anytime something bad happens we have to be quiet.' So part of their sheer exuberance is because they like everything to be loud or exploding because for them it means everything is fine."

"Which is why they're in the perfect line of business and why there is no peace at the Burrow." Ginny said decisively and Charlie could tell she was wondering if she could just create a hex out of own her name as well.

"Yes, now go back to sleep you two. We're fine." Bill said as he attempted to push the cat off of him, only to have claws dig into his shirt.

"We can't." Charlie said.

"You're under chap-er-one." Ginny trilled, "Your lovely posters say that you two can't be left alone during the full moon. Charlie already had to stun you once, Bill, because the rules said so."

Bill grumbled and Hermione sounded defensive, "Don't tease him about making the posters, he didn't want to have to repeat himself to everyone or get upset." She paused, whispering something that had the cat jumping off of Bill so he could carry her blushing into the bathroom, before coming back out.

"Hermione," Charlie said to cover the awkwardness of her needing the loo. "We will always tease Bill about his poster making habits, we've earned the right. Mum was big on arts and crafts and Bill got really into making posters, as did Percy, though he loved pamphlets as well. When I shared a room with them there was a constant barrage of different sets of rules I was supposed to live by and charts to track our rule breaking habits. Just like Ginny will always be teased for her valentines and make-up cards. We think she would do something bad just so she could go play with the glitter."

"Says the boy who spent a lot of time making pop-up books." Ginny retorted.

"They were for you little ones, don't be a brat about the fact I loved you enough to spend time making special stories just for your bed time." Charlie scolded his younger sister, still slightly embarrassed that he'd spent quite a bit of time making dragon pop up books or puppets to hear them laugh.

Ginny had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry, Charlie. I always thought it was because you hated make-up cards and did it so you wouldn't have to apologize to us when you lost your temper."

"By the time you could read, Gin, I was too old to be creating make-up cards, I was a big boy off at school. Mum just sort of pretended we had to play by the same rules so you babies wouldn't whine about us getting special treatment. Think about it, did you ever get a make-up card from Bill or I?"

The bathroom door eased open and Charlie winced, seeing Bill immediately darken, "Why didn't you call? You're not supposed to put any weight on your leg yet."

"I hopped, thank you very much." Hermione told him as he lifted her back up.

Bill still frowned at her, but Ginny cut him off. "Bill sent me one from Egypt, after he had to come make sure my hand wouldn't fall off. Remember the pretty bracelet he gave me when I got my Hogwarts letter? I couldn't take it off and he realized he'd missed a curse and had to come home and fix it, then mailed me a make-up card."

"Take that as a lesson, Hermione. Bill Weasley will give you stolen treasure jewelry that's cursed. When the Gryffindor chaser got cursed, the twins were not pleased with him." Charlie said, watching him set her back on the bed and the cat glare at him as if it was his fault she'd hopped.

"Charlie, did anything else fun happen when you were tied to George." Hermione asked, to keep Bill from saying anything and get him to stop frowning at her.

While Bill resettled her in the bed like a nesting mother, propping pillows around her and adding far too many blankets, Charlie thought. "Well, we celebrated Percy's birthday."

Ginny agreed, sounding sleepier. "I helped make the cake."

Charlie looked directly at Bill to find him doing the same and they both grinned at each other. Bill's voice gentle as he passed Hermione the firewhiskey. "Take a long sip, pet, and we'll have no more nightmares tonight. Ginny, I don't know how to break this to you…but you were a toddler. You sat on the counter stirring a bowl of flour, thinking you were helping."

Bill handed Hermione a potion and she held her hand out for a biscuit. He passed it to her and took a sip of the firewhiskey himself before pulling her back to being curled against him, giving Charlie a wave to just keep talking.

"Which you promptly got all over the kitchen when you dropped the bowl in your excitement to give it to Baker Bill, who already had the cake in the oven. The George and Fred decided to be playful little gits and make flour angels on the floor." Charlie expanded.

"I think I made one too." Ginny almost asleep from her pillow.

Hermione seemed to be easing into sleep and Bill kissed her forehead before scolding Hermione's weirdly aware familiar. "No, Crookshanks. You can sleep at the foot of the bed, not on top of us."

The cat just glared at Bill before going down to the end of the bed and Charlie talked softly to cover just how uneasy the damn cat made him. There was no way it was just a cat. "You did, Gin, which is good because it meant Mum found it completely adorable when there was flour all over the kitchen and just waved her wand to get rid of it over make us clean up."

Ginny merely made a noise and Hermione exhaled softly as well, her eyes shut. Charlie looked at Bill, "Are you staying up or do you want a sleep potion?"

Bill glanced at the girl softly exhaling on his chest, "Just hit me with another stunner, I need to be able to wake up if she does. Not have to struggle into consciousness, what if she'd woken up screaming again?"

Charlie sighed, but pulled his wand. "I hate this, Bill."

"Me too, little brother, me too. Hit it." Bill sounded equally as unhappy with the situation, but rather determined.

So Charlie hit him with a non-verbal stunner to his head, got off his cot to rearrange the covers around them, feeling guilty, and remove some of the extra blankets Bill had piled on. He laid back down on his cot and could feel those eyes watching him and felt the need to address them. "Crookshanks, you just keep watch and wake me up again if needed."


	5. Ron

**Chapter 5: Rom**

"'Mione?" Ron asked sleepily from his bunk as she swallowed down her next scream into whimpering.

Harry was already climbing down to go to her, "Hermione?"

Ron stayed where he was, knowing she was still skittish from the Manor. Her eyes were huge and dark, her arms clutching at Crookshanks. Harry perched tentatively next to her, "It's ok, you're safe."

Ron sat himself up, rubbing sleep from his eyes, glancing over at the instructions on Bill's stupid moon poster. "Bill said everyone's been telling you what happened when Mum went mental. I bet they've all been telling you I couldn't read."

She nodded, flinching slightly as Harry tried to get some of her hair out of her face. "Harry, it says she can have firewhiskey or vodka to help her sleep if she won't take a potion. Hermione, I absolutely could read already."

"Why then?" Her voice was tight and tense.

Ron shrugged, feeling embarrassed, but if it helped her, it helped her and that was the goal. Besides, he didn't want her thinking he was an idiot. "Reading lessons were the only alone time I got with just Mum." He shrugged, "It was all about Bill and Charlie when they were home, so the twins, Percy and I were pretty much ignored."

"Ginny?" Harry asked.

"No, Mum kept Ginny close because she was so little and everyone kept getting annoyed with her pestering them. Mum was also really busy that summer sewing new clothes for Bill because he'd starting growing like a weed and making dresses for Ginny." He shrugged, "You probably saw me in some of what she made that summer, I ended up with most of Bill's stuff after it went through Percy."

Harry commiserated, "Better than Dudley's old clothes."

Hermione took a sip of the firewhiskey and glanced towards the door and Ron knew she was hoping Bill would come back soon. Ron went on, "So I could read and all, but it was nice just having all of Mum's attention. She was really big on educating us, barely ever got cross with us during lessons. I think she yelled at Bill and Charlie for throwing the quaffle in the house more than she scolded me. Anyway, Mum bound me with Percy when she went mental."

She gave a small smile at the face he made. "Perce was for the most part alright when we were young, except when you bothered him, which was real easy to do. When Bill got made a Prefect a few days before Mum went off the deep end, Percy loved the idea of getting to enforce rules and started acting really pompous and putting rules up in our room." He rolled his eyes. "Wanted to wear Bill's badge around, it was so stupid, but he kept playing prefect. Charlie constantly took the piss out of him for it, which only made it worse because he would try and dock points from Charlie. The twins retaliated heavily, on Percy's behalf, a few years later when Charlie unexpectedly got made Prefect and was completely embarrassed by it."

Hermione gave a small smile and Ron shook his head and laughed, "McGonagall later said they'd done it in hopes that Bill would keep him in line as Head Boy, didn't work."

"They teased Percy so much about it though." Harry said.

Ron shrugged, "Sibling alliances changed and Percy had been being a prat to them at school. I'd forgotten Percy got so into playing Prefect during those days that he'd made a fake containers with different colored marbles and everything. Bill and Fred got to be Ravenclaws, Charlie and George were deemed Slytherins, Ginny and Mum were Hufflepuffs and he and I got to be Gryffindors. He got so mad at Fred when he caught Fred messing with his marble counts and Fred got mad at Bill for being a bad lookout, then Percy got mad at Bill too for messing with his stuff because he'd been flipping through Percy's idea book and Percy went and tattled to Mum."

"Did Bill get in trouble?" Hermione took another sip of the firewhiskey, settling Crookshanks in her lap and starting to pet him more normally over clutching at him. She gave Ron a tentative smile.

"Not as much as he would have, Percy was outraged when Mum asked if there were any good ideas and told Bill to help him with them. Perce had been hoping Bill would get stuck with bathroom cleaning duty. Anyway, I've got Percy wanting to practice tutoring on me because Bill tutored other kids at school. Bill and Fred weren't cooperating though, Bill refused to sit around and watch Percy try and teach me to read to give him tutoring tips and Fred was very wholly on his side." Ron sighed before smiling, "Percy was a complete bundle of nerves because he'd convinced himself he was going to get his Hogwarts letter early because he'd been studying already. We woke up at midnight on his birthday to start looking for the owl. Charlie's best friend got to go to Hogwarts early, so Percy was so convinced he'd get to."

"Did they tease him?" Hermione asked sounding slightly more normal, rubbing her eyes at Harry's miserable look. "Ginny told me about it, Harry. Ralph should have started school already, but his parents freaked out and thought a cult was after them so they moved to England."

Ron shook his head, "Yars, huge part of why Percy hates him. My brothers may push the limit, but they're not cruel about stuff like that and it was a really big deal to Perce. When the owl hadn't come by the time breakfast had finished Fred even suggested it got lost and Bill and Charlie went on about how the owl bringing Bill's letter got caught in a storm and hit a tree so he didn't get it until like 2 am." He paused, "Ok, maybe Charlie was a little cruel to Bill there, just kept taking the mickey out of him. Bill seems to find his freakout and subsequent attempt to run away to start his squib life extremely funny in hindsight."

"What?" She asked, completely startled.

"I'm too young to remember it, but when Bill didn't get his Hogwarts letter by the end of his 11th birthday he packed a backpack, wrote goodbye letters to everyone and stole the Ford. A new owl caught him, think he still has both letters, one's addressed to him in the Ford." Ron couldn't stop from smiling at the incredulous look on Hermione's face.

"Mine was always addressed to wherever I was." Harry said thoughtfully also looking rather shocked that the put together Bill Weasley who they all viewed as an adult had at one point been an insecure kid having a breakdown about not being magical.

"So of course Percy didn't get a letter and was completely bummed, actually threw a book across the room when Mum gently told him it wasn't going to happen and that he had to wait until he was eleven." Ron tried to remember, "He was in a foul mood, nicked Mum's wand and I'm not entirely sure what he did to me when I was pretending not to be able to read. Knocked me out for sure, but I woke up knowing Latin."

"You don't know Latin." There was a familiar scoff in her words, even if her hands shook on the bottle.

Ron's hackles rose a bit, "Yes, I do. Never asked you for help in knowing what a spell's supposed to do off its incantation, have I? Just how to do it."

She closed her mouth and focused on scratching Crookshanks, looking to the door again. Ron caught Harry's eyes and Harry shook his head, Ron took a deep breath, letting the urge to bicker go. "Well, we had cake and Perce opened his presents. I gave him a chocolate frog card he wanted, Ginny had gotten ahold of scissors and cut off a lock of her hair because of some muggle story Bill had told us about knights and tokens. The twins gave him jax, which looking back they probably won off muggle kids. Bill and Charlie gave him real gifts, like school books or something."

"Better than my birthdays." Harry said, moving to sit on the floor.

Ron grinned at him, "Mum was so mental and disconnected from reality she told Bill he should teach Percy to drive the Ford. I mean Bill and Charlie talked about flooing Muriel to intervene because Mum just had completely given up on rules and they thought she might be broken. Except then they thought they could convince Mum that they should have a motorcycle." Ron shook his head, "Thing is, the car was still a little spotty and Bill wasn't the most careful driver himself. She should have asked Charlie."

"What happened?" Hermione asked softly, her eyes starting to droop.

"Well, we all piled in, except Ginny and Mum. Perce got us airborne and was doing ok, then Bill started trying to explain the clutch and Percy was listening so intently he didn't swerve, Charlie and Bill both tried to grab the wheel, but were too late and we crashed into the roof of the house." Ron laughed, "We were all screaming like mad and Bill was cursing at all of us to shut up and calm down. Mum had to levitate us out of the car one by one and it stayed stuck up there until Dad got home. Pretty sure she purposely dropped the charm after she had Fred on the ground to punish Bill for his language, because he just dropped the six feet and landed on his face and she didn't apologize or check on him. If you think of the Burrow you can see the different wood where we crashed, it's below where my bedroom is now, they added another story when they rebuilt Percy and my room. Dad was pissed because they'd just added the story for Percy and I to have a room because neither of us wanted to share with the twins. I had to go back to the nursery with Ginny and Percy went back to Bill and Charlie's room."

"Percy crashed a car?" Hermione sounded it out, curling back into her pillow, letting Harry fuss her blanket.

"Yeah, there's a photo of him with it." Ron said easily enough, "George thinks it's Percy's coolest moment and constantly tried to get him to use it to pick up girls." He yawned, "George and Charlie still don't know Percy and I were letting Ginny's gnomes into the house and helping them hide."

"They attacked Charlie." Hermione said sleepily.

"Charlie deserved it, he was at that awful moody stage and being a prat to everyone. Nobody liked it when somebody made Ginny cry so we allied with her and the gnomes."

She didn't respond, eyes fully shut and Crookshanks settled down with her, letting them know she was fine. Ron snuggled back into his bunk, thinking if she woke up he'd tell her how he flew broomless.

* * *

Fin. Other upcoming this weekend in preparation for the final epilogue of ST and take down: Brotherly Love (with a new chapter), possibly another outtake of Dean and Cho's cut story if anyone wants to read that.


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